A COUNCIL leader and former mayor abused his wife for almost a decade before killing her outside their home, an inquest heard.

Keith Johnson, the leader of North Norfolk District Council and former mayor of Cromer, shot his wife Andrea to death outside their bungalow in December, before turning the gun on himself.

In shocking excerpts from her diary, tragic Andrea, 44, revealed that her husband would "change like the devil" behind closed doors and beat her on several occasions, as well as subjecting her to years of verbal abuse.

The inquest at Norfolk Coroner's Court heard that Johnson, 58, asked his wife to leave their shared house the day before the murder as he believed he as impeding his high-profile career.

He asked her the next day to come back to their home to talk things through, and promised not to harm her. However, he had armed himself with Andrea's own shotgun, and had laid out plans for their estate and wills in the bungalow.

He told the court: "These deaths could not have been foreseen by the police, by medical professionals or anybody else concerned."

Keith Johnson was a well-respected councillor in his community [ALBANPIX]

Residents of Norfolk were shocked by the death of the high-profile couple, who were in an open relationship since their wedding in 2004. A report issued by the Domestic Violence Homicide review after the conclusion of the inquest said that those who knew the couple were blinded by their public image.

The report's author Gaynor Mears wrote: "His public persona and high standing in the community may have made it unthinkable that he was abusing Mrs A in the privacy of their own home.

"Indeed there is still incredulity in some quarters that Mr B shot Mrs A then took his own life."

Those at the inquest listened to harrowing details of the abusive relationship as Mrs Johnson's diary, which she kept since 2004, was read allowed.

His public persona and high standing in the community may have made it unthinkable that he was abusing Mrs A in the privacy of their own home

Gaynor Mears

Mrs Johnson, described as a "trophy wife" by her callous husband, wrote in the earliest entries: "He doesn't seem bothered he is hurting me, said I either like it or lump it, he ain't going to change."

She later said: "He's done it so often it doesn't matter."

Mrs Johnson suffered from depression, and even attempted to take her own life with a cocktail of alcohol and anti-depressants two years after the couple married.

After the suicide attempt, she confided in friends that she had considered leaving her husband, but nothing came of the threat.

Ms Mears said that the tragic case "graphically demonstrates how the public face of an individual can be very different to the one behind closed doors.

"The phrase 'it doesn't happen here' needs to be dispelled and information needs to be available across the county for professionals, families, friends and colleagues to help them identify domestic abuse."